England's formula for one-day success was brutally exposed again with another dominant display from Yuvraj Singh.

Just three days after demonstrating his explosive strokeplay to hit an unbeaten 138 and help secure a 158-run victory in Rajkot, Yuvraj provided evidence of his all-round skills by performing with bat and ball.

His 118 off 122 balls helped India recover from a perilous 29 for three to reach a commanding 292 for nine, and then his underrated left-arm spin exposed England's technique on turning pitches to claim four for 28 as the tourists were dismissed for 238.

It was another stunning display by a player who has almost certainly done enough to earn a recall to India's Test side next month as a replacement for the retired Sourav Ganguly.

By then India should also have secured a comfortable victory in the seven-match series having exposed major flaws in the game-plan which proved so successful for England in beating South Africa 4-0 in vastly different conditions two months ago.

"Playing in England is a bit easier because the ball is seaming, swinging and bouncing," said England captain Kevin Pietersen.

"Here it's difficult, but I'm not stupid enough to think it would be similar out here."

It could have been so different had England built on a promising start, with Stuart Broad claiming three wickets in a five-over new-ball spell to leave India reeling on 29 for three as Yuvraj walked to the crease in the eighth over.

But for the second successive match Yuvraj played almost faultlessly, remaining patient to begin with before accelerating during a crucial partnership of 134 off 126 balls with opener Gautam Gambhir.

England's decision to play an unchanged side and field only one spinner backfired badly as India progressed to another daunting total.

Even after Yuvraj finally fell with six overs remaining having hit 15 fours and two sixes, he had established a platform for all-rounder Yusuf Pathan to hit an unbeaten 50 from 29 balls and help add 82 in the final 10 overs.

"I think we definitely failed to capitalise on our start, but then again when you've got a guy batting like Yuvraj Singh it's pretty difficult," admitted Pietersen.

"He's a game-breaker, he's a guy who wins a game and when he's batting the way he is it's very difficult to get him out. They've got strength in depth in their batting, too, and they used it."

Brutal as their batting was, though, it was the examination by spin which underlined the vast gap in class between the two sides with India delivering 27 overs of spin and claiming nine for 119.

Having lost opener Ian Bell to a run-out in the first over, Owais Shah and Matt Prior successfully rebuilt the innings with a 50-run partnership off 66 balls to give England renewed hope.

But from the moment Indian captain MS Dhoni utilises Yuvraj's left-arm spin in tandem with Harbhajan Singh, the innings slowed to almost a standstill with England adding only 52 runs in 17 overs until they used the batting powerplay.

Prior, troubled by cramp for the majority of his 64-ball innings, struggled to combat India's spinners while Shah was marginally better until both fell to Yuvraj in successive overs.

Despite England's inability to handle the spin threat, they put themselves in a position to win the match with Pietersen teaming up with all-rounder Andrew Flintoff to add 59 in the batting powerplay to leave them needing 110 in the final 13 overs.

Their 74-run stand off 70 balls came to an abrupt halt in the next over, however, with Yuvraj dismissing them both in the space of four balls to begin a collapse which saw the last seven wickets lost for only 55 runs.

"I definitely thought victory could have been ours during that powerplay," said Pietersen.

"I thought if Fred and I used that powerplay well without slogging or silly hitting and came out of it okay, we'd give ourselves a chance.

"We made a decision, we both went hard at it and scored 59 in the powerplay and the momentum came back with us. Unfortunately, we failed to capitalise on that too but we were much more competitive and that was great."

With the next encounter in Kanpur just three days away, further improvements are required if England are not to sink without trace in the series, with off-spinner Graeme Swann and Ryan Sidebottom both expected to enter the equation for Thursday's match.